Good monsoon to help India achieve 8+ GDP growth

Wed, Jul 27, 2016, 04:35 PM

Enthused by the impressive numbers for the last fiscal, as against 7.2 per cent in 2014-15, the government says that the growth rate can go up to 8 per cent in the current fiscal owing to the good monsoon.

The farm sector also rebounded to the growth zone, as against a contraction in the previous fiscal, although the rate of expansion was low at 1.2 per cent in 2015-16.

A good monsoon can help add "a percentage point" to India's GDP growth in the current fiscal, from 7.6 per cent in 2015-16, NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya said on Tuesday, expressing confidence in crossing the 8 per cent mark.

"I am very optimistic particularly encouraged by the monsoon. Monsoon will deliver this time. We can expect some pretty robust agriculture growth," Panagariya told reporters on the sidelines of a conference of chief secretaries and planning secretaries in New Delhi.

"If the agriculture growth does pan out on those lines...that adds up a percentage point to the growth. That really makes crossing 8 per cent quite probable. We should cross 8 per cent in 2016-17," he added.

Indian economy grew 7.9 per cent in March quarter and recorded a five-year high growth rate of 7.6 per cent for the 2015-16 fiscal on robust manufacturing growth.